Insurance definition by authors

The concept of insurance has been discussed and defined by numerous authors, scholars, and experts in the field. Here are some definitions by different authors:

1. Black, Harold D., and Skipper Jr, Harold D.: “Insurance is concerned with the transfer of insurable risks from individuals to insurers, who pool the risks of many individuals to accomplish the transfer at the lowest possible cost.”
2. Rejda, George E.: “Insurance is a pooling arrangement in which those who participate agree to share certain types of losses. In essence, the risk of any one participant is spread over the entire group.”
3. Dorfman, Mark S.: “Insurance provides a means for individuals to combine their efforts to protect themselves from losses. The losses of the unfortunate few are spread over the entire group, rather than causing financial catastrophe for the individual sufferer.”
4. Vaughan, Emmett J., and Vaughan, Therese M.: “Insurance is a social device providing financial compensation for the effects of misfortune, the payments being made from the accumulated contributions of all parties participating in the scheme.”
5. Dicke, L.: “Insurance is a contractual relationship whereby one party, the insurer, undertakes to indemnify or guarantee another party, the insured, against a specific loss.”
6. Trieschmann, Gustavson, Hoyt: “Insurance may be described as a social device to reduce or eliminate risk of loss to life and property.”
7. W. F. Spalding: “Insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss.”

While these definitions vary slightly in their wording, they all encapsulate the basic idea that insurance is a mechanism to spread the risk of losses among many people so that no individual bears the entire brunt of an unexpected or catastrophic event.